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| "The Calling" on PBS |
Good. That's exactly why I started writing this blog. Just like those seminary students I watched tonight, I'm young and idealistic. It's my role at this time in my life to question our assumptions and be naive. I'm only 25 years old - I have the rest of my life to be cautious and bitter. At the same time - if I'm going to be bold than I have to be willing to be wrong. And I'll admit now that I was wrong about some things.
I realize that I was wrong in my focus on polity rather than culture. Both our polity and our culture stem from the strict congregationalist history that I described, but Unitarian Universalism is not suffering for too much congregational polity - Unitarian Universalism is suffering from a culture that lacks trust and faith. We are unwillingly to let our leaders lead us. We are distrustful of clergy and any form of concentrated power.
My mother would say, "right on!" but to me this is just sad. Maybe Dough Muder was right in his UUWorld article about the generational differences between my parents generation and mine - I'm looking to follow the ringing of a prophetic voice, while my parents fought for the value that no voice should ever be heard above the collective murmur of the people.
Personally, I think this has a lot to do with our relationship with God.
You know, many UUs think we are the only church that says, "whoever you are, wherever you come from and whatever journey you are are - you are welcome here." This is pure ignorance, because most liberal congregations of faith in the US (Christan and Jewish in my experience) profess this. We are ALL on journeys of faith. It's only UUs who think that being on a journey of faith means always traveling solo.
Why must all our journeys be quiet walks in the woods and solemn reposes? What fear do you have in following a leader on a faith journey that will take you possibly further than you could have traveled alone? What fear do you have in submitting to God? If we are unable to recognize a power higher than ourselves - then we may never be able to cross into a faith deeper than our own self-satisfied shallows.
Love yourself. Love your neighbor. Trust God and trust whomever you choose as your faith leader. Learn when to hold on and when to let go.
Does this mean we need stronger leaders in the UUA? Absolutely.
Is becoming a people who trusts leaders and recruiting leaders worthy of trust a chicken-and-egg problem? Yes, but we have to start somewhere:
So if you are a leader, if you are a prophetic voice or genius community organizer - lead! Organize! If you are a person of faith looking for a better life and better world - find a path, find a leader and find strength and power in discipleship.
This is all I've got right now. As always... more to come.
I think you misread Doug Muder. He didn't say UUism was suffering for a lack of leaders, but of mentors.
ReplyDeleteJohn, it's interesting that you do not consider mentorship to be a form of leadership. Where do you think the distinction lies?
ReplyDeleteI didn't say mentorship wasn't a form of leadership. What I did say is that Muder focused specifically on mentorship and not leadership generally.
ReplyDeleteHere's the key quote, I think, from Doug Muder's article:
ReplyDelete"The generation that is now in young adulthood has grown up with an expectation—or maybe just a hope—that would have been foreign to me as a boy: Somewhere, someone ought to have a wisdom worth passing on, a legacy worth living up to."
So much I wish to say! Too much for a comment.
ReplyDeleteFirst, thanks for the conversation. I haven't participated, but I've listened actively and appreciated sorting through my thoughts as I've processed the thoughts of others. I still don't want to step actively right at this moment into a conversation about the merits or problems with our congregational polity, or the purpose of "the free church," so I will comment on the other things that I've thought of while reading this post and the comments here.
Second, I think UUs highly value community. But not communal devotional life. I wrote about this some here: http://religiousleader.blogspot.com/2010/08/devotion-to-religious-life.html.
Third, I agree that increasingly, younger folks (including me...I'm in my very early 30s) are looking for the prophetic voice and are willing to invest in trusting relationships with trustworthy leaders in a way our parents are not. It's definitely not a blind trust, and we won't place it in just anyone. It is more like the difference between a "representative democracy" and a "pure democracy." And I get the distinction John is making in the interpretation of the article, but I also agree with you that mentors are some of the best leaders. All the best leaders I personally know act in so many ways as mentors to me, and I think that it is actually through their mentorship that I came to trust them as leaders. I am looking for that. I am looking for mentor-leaders in my life.
Fourth, thanks for talking about submission to God.
So much I wish to say! Too much for a comment.
ReplyDeleteFirst, thanks for the conversation. I haven't participated, but I've listened actively and appreciated sorting through my thoughts as I've processed the thoughts of others. I still don't want to step actively right at this moment into a conversation about the merits or problems with our congregational polity, or the purpose of "the free church," so I will comment on the other things that I've thought of while reading this post and the comments here.
Second, I think UUs highly value community. But not communal devotional life. I wrote about this some here: http://religiousleader.blogspot.com/2010/08/devotion-to-religious-life.html.
Third, I agree that increasingly, younger folks (including me...I'm in my very early 30s) are looking for the prophetic voice and are willing to invest in trusting relationships with trustworthy leaders in a way our parents are not. It's definitely not a blind trust, and we won't place it in just anyone. It is more like the difference between a "representative democracy" and a "pure democracy." And I get the distinction John is making in the interpretation of the article, but I also agree with you that mentors are some of the best leaders. All the best leaders I personally know act in so many ways as mentors to me, and I think that it is actually through their mentorship that I came to trust them as leaders. I am looking for that. I am looking for mentor-leaders in my life.
Fourth, thanks for talking about submission to God.